khri srong de'u btsan - Trisong Deutsen. (790-844) The second great Dharma king of Tibet who invited Guru Rinpoche, Shantarakshita, Vimalamitra, and many other Buddhist teachers including Jinamitra and Danashila. In The Precious Garland of Lapis Lazuli, Jamgön Kongtrül dates Trisong Deutsen as being born on the eighth day of the third month of spring in the year of the Male Water Horse (802). Other sources state that year as his enthronement upon the death of his father. Until the age of seventeen he was chiefly engaged in ruling the kingdom. He built Samye, the great monastery and teaching center modeled after Odantapuri, established Buddhism as the state religion of Tibet, and during his reign the first monks were ordained. He arranged for panditas and lotsawas to translate innumerable sacred texts, and he established a large number of centers for teaching and practice. Among his later incarnations are Nyang Ral Nyima Özer (1124-1192), Guru Chöwang (1212-1270), Jigmey Lingpa (1729-1798), and Jamyang Khyentse Wangpo (1820-1892) [RY]

gu ru rin po che - Guru Rinpoche 'Precious Master.' The lotus born tantric master who established Vajrayana Buddhism in Tibet in the 9th century at the invitation of King Trisong Deutsen. He manifested the attainment of the four vidyadhara levels. He hid innumerable Dharma treasures throughout Tibet, Nepal and Bhutan to be revealed by destined disciples in the centuries to come. Guru Rinpoche resides on the summit of the Copper Colored Mountain on the southeastern continent. He is also known under the names Padmasambhava and Padmakara [RY]

glang dar ma - Langdarma. Brother of the great Dharma king Ralpachen and the persecutor of the Sangha in central Tibet during a five year reign. During his brief reign, he almost succeeded in eradicating Buddhism in Tibet. assassinated by Palgyi Dorje, 906 [RY]

dge bsnyen nyi shu rtsa gcig - Twenty-one Genyen. A group of powerful spirits indigenous to Tibet. They were converted by Padmasambhava are commanded to serve Buddhism. Today, they are still called upon along with Nyenchen Tanglha and Machen Pomra during Vajrayana rituals in order to guard the doctrine of the Buddha, elevate the status of the Precious Ones, expand the community of the Sangha, increase the life and splendor of the practitioners, raise the banner of fame, blow the conch of renown, and increase our following and prosperity [RY]

dge lugs - Gelug, Geluk. The Tibetan school of Buddhism founded by Lord Tsongkhapa as a reformation of the Kadam tradition of Atisha Dipamkara. The present head is H.H. the 14th Dalai Lama [RY]

dge lugs pa - Gelukpa, one of the four main lineages of Tibetan Buddhism [RY]

sgo bsrung ba'i pan di ta - Gate-keeping pandita. At the major monastic institutions in ancient India, it was the custom to nominate competent scholars to the position of defending the view of Buddhism through debate, one at each of the gates in the four directions of the monastery [RY]

sgrub brgyud - Practice Lineage. The lineage of teachings and masters where emphasis is placed on one's personal experience of the teachings as opposed to the scholastic lineage of expounding the scriptures (bshad brgyud). This phrase also refers to the Eight Great Chariots of the Practice Lineage (sgrub brgyud shing rta brgyad), the eight schools of Buddhism that flourished in Tibet: Nyingma, Kadam, Marpa Kagyü, Shangpa Kagyü, Sakya, Jordruk, Nyendrub, Shije and Chö. Today only the first five survive as independent lineages [RY]

gcod - Chö. Literally 'cutting.' A system of practices based on Prajnaparamita and set down by the Indian siddha Phadampa Sangye and the Tibetan female teacher Machig Labdrön for the purpose of cutting through the four Maras and ego-clinging. One of the Eight Practice Lineages of Buddhism in Tibet [RY]

chos rgyal - 1) Dharma-king, king of religion, dharma-raja, religious, pious ruler, Dharma Raja, title given to kings who are protectors of Buddhism. 2) title of king [maharaja] of Sikkim. 3) the Chögyal dynasty in Tibet; the name of the dynasty founded by the first Tibetan king/ Dharma King [RY]

chos byung - history of Buddhism, source of dharmas [the cervix, the source of the feminine principle, unborn, unceasing, w a nature like the sky; represented by a triangle or crossed triangles] [IW]

chos byung - history of Buddhism, source of dharmas [IW]

chos byung - history of Buddhism [RY]

chos 'byung - history of the dharma, triangles of origination, cervix (unborn, unceasing source of feminine principle like the sky), works on the origin & growth of buddhism, history of Buddhism, "source of existence" triangles [JV]

chos 'byung me tog snying po sbrang rtsi'i bcud - a history of Buddhism and its development in Tibet in the royal dynastic period; by {mnga' bdag nyang ral nyi ma 'od zer} (1124-1192) [RY]

chos 'byung me tog snying po sbrang rtsi'i bcud - a history of Buddhism and its development in Tibet in the royal dynastic period; by {mnga' bdag nyang ral nyi ma 'od zer} [RY]

chos lugs - Dharma tradition, style of teaching. school, system, tradition of teachings, sect, a religion, schools on lineages of Buddhism, religious doctrine, denominations, sects; an organized system of teachings; version of the Dharma [RY]

mdo - Sutra, (mdo sde). 1) A discourse by or inspired by the Buddha. 2) A scripture of the Sutra pitaka within the Tripitaka. 3) All exoteric teachings of Buddhism belonging to Hinayana and Mahayana, the causal teachings that regard the path as the cause of enlightenment, as opposed to the esoteric, tantric teachings. 4) Scripture, (lung). a scripture belonging to the category of Anu Yoga or Ati Yoga [RY]

gnubs sangs rgyas ye shes - Sangye Yeshe of Nub. One of the twenty-five disciples of Padmasambhava, he was the chief recipient of the Anu Yoga teachings as well as the Yamantaka of Mahayoga. In addition to Guru Rinpoche, his other teachers were Traktung Nagpo and Chögyal Kyong of India, Vasudhara of Nepal, and Chetsen Kye from the country of Drusha. He visited India and Nepal seven times. When the evil king Langdarma attempted to destroy Buddhism in Tibet, Sangye Yeshe instilled fear in the king by causing an enormous scorpion, the size of nine yaks, to magically appear by a single gesture of his right hand. Through this, Langdarma lost the courage to persecute the Vajrayana sangha. Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche is considered one of his reincarnations. Sangye Yeshe means 'Buddha Wisdom.' [RY]

pad ma 'byung gnas - In his Pond of White Lotus Flowers (p. 19-20) Shechen Gyaltsab Pema Namgyal explains that Padmasambhava was predicted in the Tantra of the Perfect Embodiment of the Unexcelled Nature, "Eight years after I pass into nirvana, I shall reappear in the country of Uddiyana by the name Padmasambhava and be the lord of the teachings of Secret Mantra." Following this prophesy, Padmasambhava appeared in this world in the following way: The fully perfected Buddha Amitabha, sovereign of the vajra speech of all the buddhas of the three times, resides in an immense celestial palace composed of the self-display of innate wakefulness in the center of the pure realm of Sukhavati. Inseparable from the luminous dharmakaya essence of Amitabha's mind, Padmasambhava is an unceasing miraculous display of the natural expression of compassionate energy, a manifestation of outer, inner and secret emanations that appear according to the countless beings to be influenced and to accomplish their welfare. In particular, in this world Padmasambhava appeared as the regent of Buddha Shakyamuni by taking birth from a lotus flower in Lake Danakosha. Through the miraculous display of his amazing deeds he was equivalent to a second buddha for Buddhism in both India and Tibet. On the relative level, in Maratika he appeared to realize the vidyadhara level of life mastery, the unified stage of the path of training, the realization of which is equal to that of a bodhisattva on the eighth level according to the causal vehicles. In the Cave of Yangleshö he acted as if reaching the Mahamudra level of the path of cultivation by the samadhi that illuminates the wisdom mandala of the nine divinities of Vishuddha and thus attained a state of realization corresponding to that of a bodhisattva on the tenth level according to the causal vehicles. In fact, his state of realization is indivisible from that of the buddhas of the three times and possesses the nature of wondrous manifestations that surpass the boundary of ordinary thought [RY]

pra - small turquoise, SA tshom, lot, sign, token, prognostic, omen divination, mirror, divination quite far spread in both Buddhism & bon; to see the clues, the practitioner must first have obtained the power through the practice of the divination deity; the pra vision may appear in a mirror, in space, on the surface of a lake, on a fingernail, on the blade of a sword [JV]

shes bya kun khyab mdzod - Sheja Künkyab Treasury. One of the Five Treasuries of Jamgön Kongtrül containing an encyclopedia of Buddhism and Buddhist culture in three volumes. Translated under the guidance of H.E. Kalu Rinpoche [RY]

sa skya - 1) Sakya. One of the four major schools of Tibetan Buddhism. It was established in the eleventh century by Drogmi Lotsawa ('brog mi lo tsa ba), a disciple of the Indian master Virupa. 2) Sakya; The seat of the Sakya school, Sakya was founded by Könchok Gyalpo of the powerful Khön family, in 1073 [RY]

slob dpon dpa' bo - Famous non-Buddhist yogi in India in Nagarjuna's time. Mentioned in Taranatha's rise of Buddhism in India {chos 'byung}. Almost defeated the monks at Nalanda in debate so they sent a message to Nagarjuna requesting help. Nagarjuna sent his disciple Aryadeva to debate with the Indian heretic. The heretic was defeated but refused to accept Buddhism so they locked him in the library. Slowly he began to read the books and one day realized that Lord Buddha's dharma was authentic. He took refuge and wrote many famous texts. [TDuff] [RY]

bsam yas - Samye. The wondrous temple complex, modeled after the Indian monastery Odantapuri, built by King Trisong Deutsen (790-844) and consecrated by Guru Rinpoche in 814. A major center of the early transmission of Buddhism in Tibet. It is situated in Central Tibet close to Lhasa. It is also known as Glorious Temple of Samye, the Unchanging and Spontaneously Fulfillment of Boundless Wishes. Its three stories are of Indian, Chinese and Tibetan designs. See The Lotus-born (Shambhala Publications) [RY]